The necessarily compact interiors of refrigerators and like structures such as upright freezers and storage cabinets inherently give rise to problems with regard both to utilization of limited interior space to its maximum, and provision of convenient access to the stored items or goods. These problems are particularly acute in refrigerators which, under normal circumstances, will have goods introduced thereto and removed therefrom many times throughout the day. Further, in view of the conventional manner of stacking goods in and on relatively deep shelves, to take advantage of the full height between shelves, it is not unusual for the user of the refrigerator to have to remove or displace several items in order to obtain access to a particular item.
Various attempts have been made to facilitate the placement of goods within a refrigerator, in particular, for easy subsequent access thereto. For example, attention is directed to the following patents:
______________________________________ 1,687,149 Shauer et al October 9, 1928 2,070,055 Levien February 9, 1937 4,191,437 Funke March 4, 1980 ______________________________________
Each of these patents proposes a refrigerator storage system wherein one or more rotatable trays are mounted on a refrigerator shelf whereby goods may be accommodated on the tray and, through a rotation thereof, selectively moved to the rear of the refrigerator for storage or to the front of the refrigerator for direct unencumbered access thereto. In each of these cases, the rotatable tray is merely a substitute for the shelf surface itself and, while providing for an enhanced access to the goods stored within the refrigerator, probably reduces the effective storage space and does not address the problem of full utilization of the vertical space between the shelves of a refrigerator.
While not in a refrigerator environment, it has long been known, as exemplified by the following patents, to suspend turntable-like units from overhead supports, generally shelves:
______________________________________ 2,010,962 Reinsberg August 13, 1935 2,082,088 Wilson June 1, 1937 2,431,837 Spotts et al December 2, 1947 2,525,538 Gamin October 10, 1950 2,754,166 Ohm July 10, 1956 ______________________________________
The majority of these patents provide for a direct bolting or screwing of the turntable assembly to the overhead support, Reinsberg does show, in one embodiment, the reliance on spring biased hook members.
Suspension means in the nature of hooks will also be noted in the following patent:
1,684,558 Schwarz September 18, 1928
In Schwartz, the hooks engage the pipes of the refrigerating unit of a refrigerator and in turn support shoulder members for receiving a drain pan.